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The word was first recorded in 1632, probably as a form of Onomatopoeia.[3] It shares its beginning consonants with several other English words related to violence, such as "slash", "slay", and "slam".[4] The word is found in several English colloquialisms, such as, "slap fight", "slap-happy", "slapshot", "slapstick", "slap on the wrist" (as a mild punishment), "slap in the face" (as an insult or, alternatively, as a reproof against a lewd or insulting comment), and "slap on the back" (an expression of friendship or congratulations).

In jazz and other styles of music, the term refers to the action of pulling an instrument's strings back and allowing them to smack the instrument: see Slapping (music).

"Bitch slap" is African-Americanslang that dates back to the 1990s.[5] It is used to mean killing a woman, or to refer to a woman hitting a man, or a woman or gay man haranguing somebody, or a man hitting someone else in an effeminate way.[5] Bitch slap has also been used in American prisons since the 1990s to refer to slapping instead of punching, with the implication that the perpetrator isn't "man enough" to deliver a closed-fist punch.[5]

For about five years beginning in 2004, happy slapping became a UK fad. Happy slapping is the phenomenon whereby kids assault someone while being taped by a friend on their mobile phone: afterwards the video is uploaded to a site like YouTube.[6][7][8] Media coverage of the alleged trend led to a nationwide moral panic, including a call by one Member of Parliament for schools to block mobile phone signals.[9]

The word "slap" is frequently used to minimize the perceived violence of an act, even if the act was especially severe. One person may hit another across the face and injure him/her severely, but in calling it a slap, it may seem less severe, since slapping is often associated with minor violence.[12][13]

Slapping is viewed differently by different cultures. In Iceland, slapping of children is viewed as an extreme form of physical abuse, whereas in the United Kingdom it is seen by only some parents as abusive, and even then only moderately so.[14] A 1998 Indian study found a high rate of approval for husbands slapping their wives, particularly among husbands and middle-class Indians.[15]

In some cultures, when girls menstruate for the first time, their mothers often slap them across the face, a cultural tradition thought by some to signify the difficulties of life as a woman.[16][17][18]

Studies have shown that although Americans frown upon domestic violence regardless of whether the perpetrator is male or female, generally they are more accepting of minor violence, such as slapping, when it is perpetrated by a woman against a man rather than the opposite. This is probably because women are considered less likely than men to cause physical harm. Women who inflict minor acts of violence on their male partners have a higher-than-normal probability of being severely assaulted by those partners, and domestic violence experts therefore advise at-risk women to refrain from even minor acts of physical aggression against their partners.[19] It has been suggested[by whom?] that both men and women who are violent toward their spouses are more likely to be so with their children as well.[20]

In India, the "insult slap" is a political maneuver used to express disapproval of ideas of a particular public figure or politician.[21]

Slapping is very often portrayed in films and television programs. For example, in Slap Her... She's French girls and women typically slap boys, men and other females who offend them in some way and humiliate them.